Play has just concluded on Day 1B of the Playground 500. This flight brought out 76 entries, and 20 players survived until the end to bag chips for tomorrow’s Day 2. The flight was characterized by peaks and valleys in the action; there were flurries of big hands but also long stretches of relatively tight, cautious play. In the end, the survivors were led by Diana Shamshoum who rose to the top of the leader board in the late stages and bagged 546,000 in chips.

The field in Day 1B has been reduced to 25 players on three tables. With a little more than 30 minutes to play, no one wants to hit the rail at this stage, but the prospect of bagging a tiny stack is equally discouraging so the shorter stacks are feeling the pressure at this point.

Here’s an updated look at the players in the field:

The players have just returned from their final break in this flight and only 32 remain.

A number of players were sent to the rail shortly before the break, as the pressure of the blinds started to show its effects. Although the chip average still provides just shy of forty big blinds, the remaining players will not be content to bag a small stack for Day 2 so we are likely to see some fireworks during the last three levels.

David Bonneau seized the chip lead within the last hour and has only added to his stack since; he is now sitting comfortably with 123 big blinds.

Play has just entered level 11 on Day 1B. The gulf between the big and small stacks is wider than ever, and only 39 players remain in contention.

In an unusual turn of events, a series of table breaks has brought together the three biggest stacks in the field in neighbouring seats on the same table. Led by David Bonneau, followed by Van nghiem Nguy and Roberto Parent, each of these players has a stack of more than double the current chip average.

Although there are some other big stacks throughout the field, this table has, by far, the most chips in play. For the shorter stacks at the table, this lineup could either present an opportunity or an obstacle to collecting more chips, depending on their perspective. But one thing is clear, being so far ahead of the blinds is a good feeling at any stage of a tournament, one that these players are currently enjoying in spades.

The late registration and re-entry period has ended on Day 1B, however, a few more players managed to make their way in to the field before the buzzer sounded to bring the number of entries up to 76 for this flight. With 3.8 million in chips in play, there will likely be some big stacks moving on to Day 2.

As the players returned to their seats following the latest break, Roberto Parent had a healthy lead on his competitors with a stack of over 130 big blinds. But with six levels left to play today, there is still time for lots of chips to change hands.

Diana Shamshoum just made a thin call on the river in a big pot that gave the players at table 24 something to talk about.

The action was started by Pierre Olivier Guay who raised the 1.2K big blind to 2.5K from early position. This raise drew a quick call from Shamshoum, Guay’s neighbour, before the action came around to Thanh Hung Pham in the small blind.  Pham put in a raise to 5.5K, which forced Guay to make a reluctant fold, however, Shamshoum made the call and the two players watched the flop hit the felt. Pham made a small c-bet of 5K, which Shamshoum quickly called. The turn brought the , and both players checked. The river was the , and Pham led out with a bet of 18K. The big bet gave Shamshoum something to think about, as that amount represented a large portion of her remaining stack. She eventually made the call, and Pham sheepishly tabled his for a pair of fives. Shamshoum rolled over and took down the big pot with her brave call (and ace kicker!).